ROAD TRAINS: Extreme trucking down under.


Fast Tube by Casper

Australia is roughly the size of the continental United States with just under 15% of our population (21 million). This combination of undeveloped vastness and rural sparseness introduces cost, distance, and efficiency problems. Overwhelmingly, the Aussies have chosen road trains, tractor-trailers more than four times the length of American tractor-trailers.

Road trains reach rural areas not served by rail and have the ability to cross unpaved or even flooded stretches of road.


Fast Tube by Casper

Training and licensing are heavily regulated, and legal speeds are limited to 62mph. Most cities in Australia disallow road trains from driving on local roads, so most are loaded and connected outside of town with standard trucks that carry goods into and out of the city.

Road trains longer than four trailers are typically operated on private property, usually in quarries and mines.

The world record for length is held by  John Atkinson, who pulled 113 trailers with an unmodified 620hp Mack Titan cab. To qualify for the Guinness Record, the 2,865,980 lb load had to be pulled 328 feet under its own power. The total length was just under a mile.

For perspective, imagine a truck that stretched almost the entire length of the Golden Gate Bridge:

If this truck was moving at 60mph and you attempted to overtake it at 70mph, it would take you ten minutes.

Impressive.

One Response to ROAD TRAINS: Extreme trucking down under.

  1. daniel says:

    great post think it would be impossible to overtake a truck that is as long as that bridge, there would probably be a few car crashes.

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